you said yesterday that only one Iraqi battalion, army battalion now, instead of the three previously stated, are able now to operate alone without U.S. military help. And yet you say that's not a setback to U.S. hopes to leave Iraq. Would you explain that? How is that not a setback, sir?

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What would be a 'right' answer (to close the theme)?

Quality of Iraqi forces is not uniform. Some units are good, even excellent. Some are not so good just now but a progress is visible. It was decided (to boost the progress) to send the best officers and sergeants to battalions where much has to be done. So temporarily weakening few units we are creating a base for strong, powerfull Iraqi army in near future.

you said yesterday that only one Iraqi battalion, army battalion now, instead of the three previously stated, are able now to operate alone without U.S. military help. And yet you say that's not a setback to U.S. hopes to leave Iraq. Would you explain that? How is that not a setback, sir?

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Casey stated that in about a year the number of category 1 battalion would be a issue.Right now the 2's and 3's are more important. Casey stated in the senate hearings that in Tal Afar category 2 and 3 iraqi battalion were fighting and dieing

Your right I notice that also. Could be a number of reasons 1--What you said. 2 tightened up standards. 3 Their could be just a lot of flux of units as they fight then refit 4 Their could have been corruption at higher levels which may embarrass the Iraq government, I though he hinted at that. In that case it would be classified

Your right I notice that also. Could be a number of reasons 1--What you said. 2 tightened up standards. 3 Their could be just a lot of flux of units as they fight then refit 4 Their could have been corruption at higher levels which may embarrass the Iraq government, I though he hinted at that. In that case it would be classified

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Frankly speaking, the situation is clear. General Casey as a true Soldier said about real situation, that it goes from bad to worse. Immediately after his statement he was brainwashed. He probabbly was told that although he is right from military point of view, from political point of view he is wrong. So general Casey was forced to explain why he made his statement.

I wonder why the general was not prepared properly to obvious questions. My proposition (I mean his possible answer) would at least close the theme (and no matter that too few would believe).

What I like about watching the briefings over the internet is I get to judge for myself what was said.I can judge the credibility of General Casey . I dislike taking what some reporter said that he said. My impressions is Gen Casey believes in his mission. Believes that he can train the Iraqis to win the fight. What he is trying to do ask the American people to give him enought time to do it before the funding is pulled.
General Casey also tesified to the senate

That hearing included other Generals besides General Casey you might be interested

...and in the interests of balance, ARRSERS lucky enough to access the DII can read an interesting selection of first hand views herehttp://dgdd.asei.mod.uk/Presentations/ida.htm though this was the view in July last year, not today.

Darth Doctrinus was probably present at the time that these presentations were given.

The presentation on Lessons learned concluded with slide cheerfully headed
' WHAT WE GOT WRONG'

Didnât know where Saddam was
Didnât understand extent of communications void or dysfunction in planning and coordination
Lost track of 3 Iraqi divisions
Misidentified their locations
Did not know their condition
Thought Special Republican Guard was elite and posed a threat to planned airborne landings
Were not ready to receive surrenders we called for
Unprepared for rear area threat or fanatical resistance by Fedayeen and foreign fighters

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another quote was attributed to the two star US Army Maj Gen who was Chief C2 HQCFLCC during Operation Iraqi Liberation(OIL) who said:

ââ¦ the Info Ops campaign didnât work on the Iraqi Army â absolutely not. We had completely underestimated the grip of the Baâathists on the Armyâ

âWe didnât understand the Baâathist system as well as we should have doneâ

âWe had very little situational awareness of what has been going on in Iraq over the past 12 years, because weâve treated them like pariahs â¦â

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All good stuff.......who was it who sadly but truthfully reflected that the Army is always training to fight the last war ?

Oh, and for NeoCon , the site these quotes is taken from is neither up beat nor downbeat...it is, however,pretty rigorously realistic.

CNN carried some of an interview with (I think) Casey. Presenters went on to discuss the situation with recruitment falling below minimum requirements by about 10%. Casey blamed parents (he called them 'influencers') convincing their kids NOT to join the army specifically due to the Iraq situation. The army's solution is to drop standards in some of their tests.
Its expected that the marines will suffer the same shortfall.

more here scroll down it gets less positive but both are basically upbeat their are plenty of negative sites you have to find those yourself

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Oh dear!

I don't know what your mission is NC, but in this forum you have plenty of people who have actually been to Iraq, served in Iraq, and seen it with their own eyes. We don't need links to right-wing drivvel written by people that haven't really got a clue what they're talking about.

I don't know what your mission is NC, but in this forum you have plenty of people who have actually been to Iraq, served in Iraq, and seen it with their own eyes. We don't need links to right-wing drivvel written by people that haven't really got a clue what they're talking about.

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Their are a lot of people in US that have been to Iraq, who also know what they are talking about and support the war. You are not the source of all Knowledge and drivvel is in the eye of the beholder.

Merkator

A right-wing blogger who doesn't know that he's got an elbow. And if he did, he would know the difference between it and his arrse.

Remember this is the guy who thinks expelling 20,000 civilians from a town, before assaulting it, is an "upbeat signal" - because it could have been much larger!!!

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As to to being a right-wing blogger, maybe nothing wrong with that, but being a left wing blogger now that terrible. PS I hate using the term Left wing, too long winded. I perfer lefty much more to the point.

expelling 20,000 civilians from a town

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The town Tal Afar was not under coalition control so the coalition could not expel anybody.What we probably did was send in leaflet asking people to leave or they just had the good sense to know a fight was coming and leave . That would seem humane and prudent . This would minimize cilvillian casualties and they can come back home after the fight is over. I have no doubt the International Court for Indicting Americans oops I mean Justice would indict the entire US military plus those Iraqi who would fight the insurgents and every one who voted for bush(60million people) as war criminals.

Merkator

You don't really expect the Pentagon to give anything other than an "upbeat" story do you?

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I do expect a postive spin from the pentagon which balances the negtive
spin you get everywhere else. Fair and Balanced thats my motto.

All spin aside Its in US national interest that Iraqi war ends in a successful fashion and its in British national interest that Iraq war ends in a successful fashion .Its in the Iraqi national interest that the war end in a successful fashion. I hope we can all work to achieve those ends.

Their are a lot of people in US that have been to Iraq, who also know what they are talking about and support the war.

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I'm sure there are. But the blogs that you link to are written by people who have NOT served in Iraq and are happily spinning on what they know precious little about - and taking in gullible people like you!

NEO_CON said:

Fair and Balanced thats my motto.

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Then be so good dear chap and practice what you preach. Try posting a few links to sites offering an alternative opinion to your right-wing diatribe.

NEO_CON said:

The town Tal Afar was not under coalition control so the coalition could not expel anybody. What we probably did was send in leaflet asking people to leave or they just had the good sense to know a fight was coming and leave . That would seem humane and prudent . This would minimize cilvillian casualties and they can come back home after the fight is over.

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That's about the sum of the Serbian 'excuse' for their operations in Kosovo. You have been reading their manual!

So tell me NC, where you in favour of bombing the Serbs in 1999 for their inhumanity - or did you support their actions and demonstrate against your own government for their blatent stupidity.

NEO_CON said:

I have no doubt the International Court for Indicting Americans oops I mean Justice would indict the entire US military plus those Iraqi who would fight the insurgents and every one who voted for bush(60million people) as war criminals.

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Funny that. No US Citizen can be prosecuted by the ICC since the US has refused to recognise their jurisdiction. And more to the point, gone round the world demanding other states sign bilateral agreements with them saying that they will not extradite or hold US personnel in actions related to any criminal act.

NEO_CON said:

As to to being a right-wing blogger, maybe nothing wrong with that, but being a left wing blogger now that terrible. PS I hate using the term Left wing, too long winded. I perfer lefty much more to the point.

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Hmmmm. Maybe I should refrain from using the term right-wing in this context and simply state the truth: 'wrong-wing' or 'just plain wrong'.

NEO_CON said:

All spin aside Its in US national interest that Iraqi war ends in a successful fashion and its in British national interest that Iraq war ends in a successful fashion .Its in the Iraqi national interest that the war end in a successful fashion.

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Define success please.

Then state how that will be achieved in relation to the original war aims and the current 'peace' aims.